Family rescued from their 15th flood

● Feroza Kharva was 23 in 1987 when her family stood on the roof of their home in King Street in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, waiting for the army to rescue them.

Their house had been almost entirely submerged when the banks of the Klip River — less than 100m away — burst due to torrential rains, flooding streets, homes, businesses and places of worship in the town.

This week history repeated itself for the Kharva family when yet another major flood resulted in them being stranded in the second storey of their home, with no way out.

Feroza, her older sister Zarina and their 86year-old mother prepared to wait until the water subsided, but soon realised this was not the best option.

“The water started coming up the stairs and when my nephew saw the pictures we sent him he told me we needed to evacuate. Given my mother’s age, we decided that if there was an emergency we wouldn’t want to be stuck upstairs.”

Her family contacted the Al-Imdaad Foundation, a nonprofit humanitarian disaster relief agency, to assist with the evacuation. “At about 10pm on Tuesday they brought the dinghy and carried my mom and sister downstairs. My mother is unstable and cannot walk properly and my sister has arthritis.”

The Kharva family were among 125 people evacuated from their homes and businesses as rescue teams traversed chesthigh waters by boat in the streets lining the Klip River.

Feroza said her family have experienced 15 floods in more than five decades of living in the area. “In the 1980s we started experiencing bad floods. We’ve lost all of our things at least five times — completely wiped out. In the 1987 flood my sister was about to get married and her entire dress was damaged.”

For Zakhele Goqo, 44, the floods took an emotional toll on his family as they could not bury his brother, Siyabonga Mbense, 34. They were unable to fetch the body from the funeral parlour due to the rising water in the town.

“We had prepared to bury him on Monday. The cemetery was waiting for the

‘We have been completely wiped out at least five times’

arrival of his body, they had dug his grave and family had come from all over to attend the funeral.”

After contacting members of the public safety department, disaster management and the police, Goqo was eventually pointed in the direction of the Al-Imdaad Foundation, which assisted with the retrieval of his brother’s remains by boat.

While the government declared a national state of disaster on Wednesday as many other parts of the country were ravaged by floods, Feroza said the problem in Ladysmith was due to the waterways of the Klip River being blocked.

She said her father was part of the Ladysmith dam operational committee, which was formed to investigate whether building a dam near the town would alleviate flooding as water would be safely stored in the dam.

“They brought in engineers from India and Canada to do a research study before anyone attempted to build a dam. These experts found that the problem was the drainage system and that the river was not being maintained as vegetation was not being cleared from the waterways.”

In 1997 the Qedusizi Dam was constructed 5km outside the town in the hope that it would prevent floods.

The effectiveness of the dam has been ranked high, and with good reason, as it held back water levels of more than 8m during the peak of the flooding this week.

In the rain-battered North West, the fishing community of Bloemhof has had another setback, after starting to get back on its feet after the lockdown.

Sias Meyer, 70, owner of Plek Vanni Visarend lodge and restaurant, said the flooding would devastate the community as they were set to resume fishing tournaments in May after a two-year break.

“On Tuesday we had to immediately evacuate our homes as the water levels were rising after five gates were opened in the Vaal River system. We had to get our families from out of town to come and help us move. It took countless bakkie trips as I also rent out houses. In total I was responsible for finding alternative accommodation for 16 tenants.

“Everyone was stressed, there was so much uncertainty; still is,” Meyer said.

The economy of the town depends on fishing and accommodation, he said. “We are left income-less. And we will need to reconsider this year’s fishing tournament, which also caters for international competitors.”